Did a recruiter ruin my CV? Help

[Ilostmysocks]

Hi,

Any HR managers or recruiters out there? Basically I live in the South West where everyone knows everyone and its suffocating.

I'm looking for a new job and asked a recruiter for help with my CV.

Old CV: list of key skills and tasks per role

New CV: achievements gained in that role and skills at the very top of the CV

I've just had some feedback saying my CV looks ridiculous and have been asked for a more traditional version.

I sent them my original CV and they said "this is much better"...

My issue is, I've sent the new CV out to lots of companies and now I'm feeling embarrassed and worried people might think I'm an idiot!!

If you hire people - what CVs do you prefer??

FFS! Devon and Cornwall isn't big enough for this type of fuck up 😔

Who gave the feedback?

The main recruitment agency in Devon (where I want to be!) gave the poor feedback.

The person who did my new CV was one of most popular industry wide recruiters based in London.

It's difficult to say much without clearer examples of what old and new look like. Generally if people you want to employ you say your CV is bad, you should listen. But CVs should highlight achievements and not tasks. Can you give dummy examples of old and new?

Yes I could do a dummy version tonight and post it later...

I'm hoping that the Devon Recruitment agency is just backwards and stuck in the year 2000? Sounds about right TBH!

She said listing achievements was a pointless exercise!

I work in a fairly traditional sector and I just want to see a list of jobs with bullet points for each role listing main areas of work from a CV. Covering letter is where you explain how your skills match to the job and draw out specifics.
It may be different in different industries but skills based cvs just seem a bit flannelly to met.

That's the thing that sounds ridiculous, not your reformatted cv...
Don't most agencies just put your basic details into their own template and send this across to potential employers anyway?

@Johnnysgirl I have no idea what they do. I expect they just send the candidates CV over. They seem a bit backwards like that

Sigh. I'm just feeling dejected and grumpy about the whole thing!

I do a list of key achievements first as a person summary. Then key skills. Then each job with bullet points of key responsibilities. Seems to work ok for me but just gets longer with every job!

Oh bless you. As someone born and raised in a backward rural area who left to travel the world and then inexplicably returned home and now limited by niche choice job options, I feel your pain. I always find the ask a manager website helpful. It's American based but she actually knows what she's talking about. www.askamanager.org/2020/02/my-step-by-step-guide-to-writing-a-resume.html

Thank you! I'll have a look.

I'll try and find a role without using a recruiter if i can. They just seem so strange!